“The development and evolution of the Sarod from the older Rabab, a string instrument from Afghanistan and Persia, is credited to the Bangash family, whose ancestor, Mohammed Hashmi Khan Bangash, migrated from Afghanistan and settled down in Rewa in Central India. A horse trader by profession, he developed a deep interest in music. His dexterity on the folksy Rabab coupled with his interest in the Indian classical tradition led him to encourage his son Ghulam Bandegi Khan Bangash, to modify the Rabab into an instrument which could fuse the two traditions. This he did by introducing a metal fingerboard and strings to the rabab. His decedent, Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash, perfected the instrument and polished the practice of playing ragas on the Sarod as it was named, meaning ‘melody’ in Persian.”

Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash, had three children, Hussein Ali Khan, Murrad Ali Khan and Nanneh Khan. Hussein Ali Khan was descended by his only son Asgar Ali Khan.

Nanneh Khan, had two descendants, Hafiz All Khan and Hashmat Ali Khan. Hashmat Ali was succeeded by Ahmed Ali Khan. Whereas Hafiz Ali Khan was descended by his three sons Mubarak Ali Khan, Rehmat Ali Khan and Amjad Ali Khan. Amjad Ali Khan and his two sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash are carrying forward the legacy with their next generation.

Murad Ali Khan (Son of Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash), passed on the legacy to his adopted son Abdullah Khan (from Shahjahanpur) who again passed on the lineage to his son Md. Ameer Khan.

One of the disciples of Md. Ameer khan was Radhika Mohan Maitra. After the demise of Md. Ameer Khan, he received training from Ustad Mohammed Dabir Khan of Rampur, an exponent of the Senia Gharana, and received extensive training in the Dhrupad-Dhamaar style of Indian Classical music. Subsequently, Radhika Mohon developed his own style, blending the Rabab style of the Shahjahanpur Gharana with the Dhrupad vocal style from the Senia Gharana and created a unique style of his own, which was called the Senia-Shahjahanpur Gharana, combining the Rababiya style of Shahjahanpur, and the Gayaki style of Senia.

Radhika Mohan Maitra, was the pioneer of the SENIA SHAHJAHANPUR GHARANA. His disciples include Rajani Kanta Chaturvedi, Anil Roy Chowdhury, Buddhadev Dasgupta, Samarendra Nath Sikdar, Bhaskar Sen, Somjit Dasgupta and Joydeep Ghosh. Samarendra Nath Sikhdar passed on the legacy to his disciples Soumya Chakraverty and Tanusree Chatterjee whereas Anil Roy Chowdhury to his son and disciple Siddhartha Roy Chowdhury and many other notable disciples. On the other hand, the heritage continued through Budhhadev Dasgupta to his sons Bhabani Shankar Dasgupta and Anirban Dasgupta and disciples like Debashish Bhattacharya, Debasmita Bhattacharya, Prattyush Banerjee, Abir Hossain, Sugato Nag and many others.

The illustrious legacy passes on to the brothers Arka Roy and Shounak Roy who had started learning from their tender ages from Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta. Shounak Roy being the youngest disciple of Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, presently training under Abir Hossain and his elder brother Arka, after the demise of Panditji , is continuing his training from Panditji’s elder son and disciple, Bhabani Shankar Dasgupta and received special training from Sri Abir Hossain, one of the finest disciples of Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta.
Reference : https://www.sarod.com/ https://sarodia.com/